This invention relates generally to object tracking and control methodologies and systems and more specifically to methods of tracking, controlling, identifying, verifying, and dispensing items such as keys, narcotics, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, and the like.
Many objects have intrinsic value or have value because they provide access to other valuable objects. For instance, jewelry and coins have inherent and intrinsic value, while keys, such as keys to vehicles, have value because they provide access to other valuable objects, namely automobiles and trucks. Access and control of either of these, that is intrinsically valuable objects or objects that provide access to intrinsically valuable objects, is an important need. Access to other types of items, such as narcotics and pharmaceuticals for example, needs to be monitored, tracked, and controlled to assure against unauthorized access and to assure that proper and appropriate access is catalogued and verified. There is a serious need to be able to track, catalogue access to, and control the dispensing of narcotics and similar items through methods and devices that are reliable, simple to operate, automated, and that guard against theft and mischief.
In the past, a variety of systems and methodologies have been developed and implemented to track and control various types of objects such as equipment, guns, vehicle keys, jail keys, etc. In the case of keys in an automobile dealership, for example, pegboards historically were used to keep track of keys as salespersons, maintenance personnel, and others removed keys for access to vehicles. Generally, sign-out sheets were used to log the check-in and check-out of the keys. Obviously, such a manual system of tracking has numerous shortcomings due in large part to the very real potential of human error and forgetfulness in carrying out the sign-in and sign-out procedures. More recently, automated computer controlled key tracking systems have been implemented for tracking, for example, vehicle keys at car lots and keys to the apartments of apartment complexes. Examples of such key tracking systems are disclosed in a variety of patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,801,628; 6,075,441; 6,195,005; and 6,317,044 of the present inventor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,985 of Hambrick et al. (xe2x80x9cHambrickxe2x80x9d), U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,655 of Cobb (xe2x80x9cCobbxe2x80x9d), and others. The disclosures of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
While object tracking systems and methodologies disclosed in these and other references have proven extremely valuable in the tracking and control of objects such as keys, they nevertheless exhibit significant limitations and weaknesses in some applications. One primary weakness common to prior object tracking systems is that they don""t track the actual objects that are being controlled, e.g. keys themselves. Rather, they track a container or tag that is attached to or carries the object and that is provided with an electronic or optical identification code. This opens the possibility for the object that is actually being tracked to be removed from its tag or container or swapped with a worthless object without the system identifying the security breach. For example, a key to a vehicle can be cut off of its ID tag or stripped from its container and a traditional electronic key tracking system will not detect the theft of the key. Similarly, if narcotics within ID containers are being tracked, the pills themselves can be removed from their containers and confiscated and the tracking system is none the wiser.
This problem has been addressed somewhat in key tracking systems such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,262,664 of the present inventor. In this system, keys are attached to their key tags with serialized tethers which, if cut, inform the system electronically of the breach. While this is an improvement in the tracking system, there still remains the possibility of removal of the key by cutting the physical key off of its tether, because this action would not alter the serial tether. In such a case, the only method of recognizing the theft is a physical inventory of the keys by a person. Requiring a human inventory in order to confirm that the key or other object being tracked and controlled is present by definition negates the main purpose of automatic key tracking systems. Essentially, the tracking system is reduced to a manual control system. It thus will be seen that as long as an object tracking system actually tracks and controls an attached tag or container and not the tracked objects themselves, dispensing and controlling items such as keys, jewelry, or narcotics is potentially not much better than a controlled honor system.
In the system of xe2x80x9cCobb,xe2x80x9d an attempt is made to address some of these shortcomings. In this system, an optional weighing scale is provided outside the system for the manual weighing of each object as it is checked in and checked out. The user is required to weigh an ID tag attached to tracked objects before it is inserted into the tracking system at check-in and just after it is received from the system at check-out to enter the weight manually into the control computer. The computer checks to make sure the weight is the same, theoretically confirming that the tracked item is intact and in place. In addition to reducing the Cobb tracking system to a manual honor system, there are other serious problems with this approach. For example, a key or other item being tracked can be removed during the period in-between removing its ID container from the system and weighing it on the scales. Returning the object can be even more prone to abuse. After the ID container and its contained object is weighed, the object, such as a key, can be removed before inserting the ID container into the tracking system. Such tempering can occur with an ID container or an ID tag. For example, a key can be precut to enable it to be removed easily after the tag is weighed. Cobb briefly and vaguely mentions a xe2x80x9cweighing scalexe2x80x9d but fails to teach any specifics regarding such scales or how they might be used to resolve the inherent problems discussed herein.
Thus, even though prior art key tracking and object tracking systems have proven very useful and have improved, there exists a continuing need for a system and methodology that addresses the above problems and shortcomings. In particular, there is a need for an object tracking system that automatically identifies and verifies the conditions of the tracked objects themselves as well as identifying the ID tags or containers to which they are attached or in which they are contained. A related need exists for a method of identifying and verifying that an item being tracked, such as a key, a piece of jewelry, or a unit of narcotics, is indeed present and genuine when being checked in and out of the tracking system. In the case of narcotics tracking, a need exists for an automatic tracking methodology that identifies narcotics and verifies upon check-in that only the proper number of pills or other units of the narcotic have been removed from their security containers while the narcotics were checked out of the tracking system. It is to the provision of an object tracking methodology and system that successfully addresses these and other important needs that the present invention is primarily directed.
Briefly described, the present invention, in a preferred embodiment thereof, comprises an improved method of tracking objects such as keys, jewelry, and narcotics that incorporates automatic identification and verification of the actual objects being tracked as the objects are checked out and checked back in at a central storage location. A system for carrying out the method of the invention is also proposed. In one embodiment, the system comprises a storage cabinet at the central location. The storage cabinet includes a portal for receiving and dispensing containers that contain the tracked objects, such as, for example, keys to automobiles. An internal array of storage bins are provided in the cabinet for receiving and holding the containers during the time that they are checked in. The bins may be arranged in a row and column array or may be formed around a rotating carousel. In any event, a container retrieval system in the cabinet is provided for retrieving a requested container from its bin and delivering it to the portal for retrieval by an authorized user. The retrieval system also moves a checked-in container from the portal, into which it is inserted when checked in, to a designated bin for storage.
A control computer is coupled to the retrieval system and includes a user interface, preferably on the outside of the cabinet. The computer controller can be located inside the cabinet if desired, or the computer controller and, indeed, the user interface as well can be located remotely from the cabinet. The user interface may include a keyboard and a display on the outside of or remote from the cabinet. The control computer is programmed among other functions to receive user identification and a user request for a particular object stored in the cabinet. If the user is authorized, the control computer directs the retrieval system to retrieve the security container bearing the requested object from its bin and deliver it to the portal, where it can be retrieved by the user. The control computer also receives instructions from the user that an object and its container is to be checked back in when the user has finished with the object. The user inserts the container into the portal, whereupon the control computer instructs the retrieval system to retrieve the object and move it to a designated bin for storage until it is requested again.
Each security container is provided with an identification code, which may be in the form of an optical bar code or an electronic code stored in a chip or RFID tag on the container. The system is provided with a reader, which may be an optical reader, a contact memory reader, or a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, that reads the ID code of the security containers upon check-out and check-in to identify each container. In some respects, the system is similar to that disclosed in the Hambrick et al. patent. However, Hambrick et al. discloses only the reading of an optical bar code on an object container when the container is checked in to the system. No detection of the object itself is done and no reading at all is done upon check-out by a user. Thus, if a container drops from its storage bin or is taken from the storage cabinet after having been checked in, the Hambrick et al. system has no way to detect this event.
The system of the invention also includes elements within the cabinet for verifying that the correct object is actually contained within its designated container, both when the object is checked out and when it is checked back in. In a preferred embodiment, one such element include a scale in the cabinet coupled to the control computer. The scale is positioned adjacent the portal on the inside of the cabinet and a security container moves onto the scale temporarily during the check-out and check-in procedures. The control computer notes the weight of the container, which is the sum of the weight of the container and its contained object or objects, and compares this weight to a look-up table of expected weights for the various containers and their contents. If the weight matches the expected weight, then the control computer verifies that the correct objects are contained within the container and either dispenses the container to the user or stores it in a designated bin depending upon whether the object is being checked out or in. If a discrepancy is noted, the proper alarms are set and appropriate action, such as not dispensing the requested container or reporting to security personnel, is taken.
Where narcotics in the form, say, of pills are being dispensed, the control computer knows the weight of each pill and, when the narcotics container is checked back in after use, verifies by weight that the proper number of pills have been removed from the container. Thus, weight is one measurement used to carry out object identification and verification according to the method of the invention. It should be understood throughout this disclosure that whenever xe2x80x9cpillsxe2x80x9d are used as an example of a form in which narcotics or pharmaceuticals can be made available, the term xe2x80x9cpillsxe2x80x9d should be taken to include any other form or units that a narcotic might take. For example, units of a narcotic might be made available in the form of a liquid contained within a vial or ampule. The methodology of the present invention as disclosed herein applies to narcotics in these and other forms just as applies to narcotics in the form of pills. Pills are simply used in portions of this disclosure as convenient examples for purposes of discussion.
Another or second element of the system for carrying out object identification and verification functions is a digital imaging system in the cabinet coupled to the control computer. The containers that contain the objects being tracked are transparent or translucent so that the objects are visible in their containers. In one configuration, a digital camera is disposed above or below an imaging station in the cabinet, which may be the transparent platform of the scales, and a light is disposed on the opposite side or above or to the side of the imaging station. As a part of the check-out and check-in procedures, each container stops temporarily at the imaging station. The light is activated and the digital camera takes a digital image of the contents of the security container. The digital image is transferred to the control computer via, for instance, a xe2x80x9cfire wire,xe2x80x9d USB, or other connection where it is subjected to a pattern recognition algorithm to extract predetermined features of objects within the security container. These features are compared to stored features of objects that are expected to be contained in the container. The control computer verifies that the features of the objects actually in the container matches the stored features of the objects expected to be in the container. If the features match, the control computer verifies that the correct objects are in the container and dispenses or stores the container as appropriate. If a discrepancy is noted, the control computer is programmed to take appropriate action such as notifying security personnel, creating a tamper log, sounding alarms, and/or refusing to dispense a requested container. In the case of narcotics, for example, the pattern recognition algorithm may determine from the digital image how many pills are present in the container and whether the remaining pills are the correct shape, size, and/or color. In this way, the control computer may determine, upon check-in, that only the correct number of pills were removed while the container was checked out and that the pills have not been substituted with different pills or otherwise tampered with.
Other elements may be provided for carrying out the object identification and verification functions of the methodology of this invention. For instance, a density or magnetic material detector may be employed to verify that the objects in the containers are made of the proper material (metal keys for instance). In any event, it will be understood that the method of this invention includes the steps of receiving a container bearing objects to be tracked, identifying the objects in the container, verifying that the objects are the objects that are expected to be in the container, and taking appropriate remedial action if a discrepancy is detected. The steps of identifying and verifying may include weighing the containers and their contents, comparing the weight to an expected weight, and noting a discrepancy if the weight is not what is expected. Identification and verification also may include imaging the objects in the containers, comparing the features of the imaged objects to stored features of objects expected to be in the container, and noting a discrepancy if the imaged objects are not as expected. Other means identification and verification also may be implemented.